The Lions' Cheering Section
by dobbyfan18
Summary: When Lavender Brown, a Muggle-born, tries to organize a Gryffindor cheerleading team, hilarity ensues.
1. I always knew they were mental

The LionsÕ Cheering Section When Lavender Brown, a Muggle-born, tries to organize a group of Gryffindor cheerleaders, hilarity ensues.  
  
  
Harry and Ron clambered through the portrait hole, soggy and disheveled. However, their appearance was nothing compared to their moods.  
ÒThat could NOT have been worse,Ó said Ron. ÒAnd donÕt tell me it couldÕve been,Ó he added, as Hermione came up to them and opened her mouth. Hermione closed her mouth, apparently trying to think of something that might raise the spirits of her two best friends, both of whom were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Though Harry had been kicked off for a while the year before, UmbridgeÕs ban had been lifted earlier that month when they returned to Hogwarts.  
Hermione suddenly brightened. ÒHey, youÕll never guess the cockamamy idea LavenderÕs come up with.Ó  
ÒEr....cockamamy?Ó said Harry, looking confused.  
ÒYes, cockamamy. It means, like, crazy.Ó  
ÒIf you say so,Ó muttered Ron. ÒSo, what is it?Ó  
Hermione stifled a giggle. ÒA Gryffindor cheerleading team.Ó  
Harry and Ron both snapped straight up in the armchairs they had just slumped into.  
ÒA...cheerleading team?Ó repeated Ron incredulously.  
ÒA cheerleading team,Ó Hermione replied. ÒYou know, LavenderÕs Muggle-born like me, and her sisters were both cheerleaders in school --- oh, they werenÕt witches --- so she grew up around them and their friends. Tonight she realized none of the houses had a team, so she and Parvati went around asking people to sign up. Ginny and I decided weÕd give it a try, as well as a couple others.Ó  
ÒYou, a cheerleader?Ó Ron raised his eyebrows, which by now had recovered from the Exploding Snap incident in 4th year.   
ÒI always knew those two were mental,Ó said Harry, shaking his head, Òbut cheerleading.....thatÕs just plain absurd.Ó  
ÒWell, they seemed pretty set on it,Ó said Hermione. ÒFirst practice is tomorrow.Ó  
  
***  
  
The next night at 6:30, half the girls in Gryffindor were congregated on the Quidditch pitch.  
ÒNot a bad turnout,Ó muttered Lavender to no one in particular, scanning the crowd.  
Then she raised her voice. ÒOkay, everybody! Thanks for signing up to be on the Gryffindor cheerleading team! Does anybody here have any experience?Ó  
Only Daphne Greengrass raised her hand.  
ÒRight, Daphne, could you come up here a moment?Ó  
The fellow sixth year obliged, and when she arrived at the front of the small crowd, Lavender asked her how much experience she had.  
ÒJust one year,Ó she replied timidly. Daphne was the type of girl who liked to go unnoticed, and let the people like Hermione answer the questions in class.  
ÒWell, one yearÕll do,Ó said Lavender. ÒYouÕll be my demonstrator tonight.Ó  
Daphne nodded.  
ÒOkay,Ó called Lavender, ÒI think weÕll start with a fairly easy cheer. YouÕll only have to move your arms, and itÕs basically only two words.Ó  
Ginny and Hermione exchanged raised eyebrows.  
ÒSo, weÕre going to say: GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR! Everyone just say the words.Ó  
ÒGO, GO, GRYFFINDOR!Ó rang through the stadium.  
ÒNow, letÕs add the actions. On the first go, punch the air with your right hand. Daphne?Ó After Daphne had demonstrated what the first go should look like, Lavender continued, ÒGood. Now, on the second go, weÕre going to punch the air with our left hands. IÕd like everybody to just try the go, go, with the actions. Ready?Ó  
ÒGO, GO...Ó screamed the girls.  
The words were flawless, but the motions were far from it. Natalie McDonald was knocked over as her best friend Betsy Statser attempted the air-punching. Hermione raised her hands left, right instead of right, left. Kiara Gretu accidentally kicked the girl behind her when her leg lifted naturally up as she raised her arms. Parvati Patil was shouting the words from an extremely odd position, as she had apparently tried to do a handstand instead of LavenderÕs actions and failed. And Sally-Anne Perks stood, befuddled, in the midst of it all, not even trying the motions. Perhaps her reasoning was that she was safer this way, and she might have had a point. Only Ginny, Daphne, and Lavender got it right.  
Lavender grimaced but recovered quickly. ÒAll right, girls, I think weÕll try that one again tomorrow night. WeÕll call it a day for now.Ó 


	2. Possible Progress

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize doesnÕt belong to me. They belong to J. K. R., as you should know if youÕre bothering reading this. However, Betsy Statser, Kiara Gretu, and some other people who might appear later belong to me!  
  
Part II: Possible Progress  
  
***  
  
It was the night after the abysmal first practice. The same Gryffindor girls were once again gathered on the Quidditch field. A good nightÕs sleep seemed to have done Lavender a bit of good. Tonight, satisfied that her ÒstudentsÓ at least knew what they were supposed to be doing --- the GO, GO GRYFFINDOR cheer --- she moved among them, correcting their positions and giving suggestions. Hermione got her arm-lifting problem sorted out, and so did many others. While Parvati wasnÕt exactly perfect, she at least wasnÕt attempting advanced gymnastics anymore.   
  
However, Lavender looked about ready to pull a large quantity of her hair out when she came to Betsy Statser (as noted by Ginny, who was entertaing herself by watching the others since she had already perfected the cheer herself). Betsy was hopeless at cheerleading, but she hadnÕt been put in Gryffindor for nothing. She kept on trying --- even if it was to no avail. After multiple tutorials, she still accidentally gave Daphne a bloody nose (Hermione applied a quick Healing Charm, and it vanished) when she tried to punch the air. However, Lavender seemed to reach the conclusion that that was about as far as she would get, and moved on to a slightly harder cheer.  
  
ÒRight, weÕre going to say, DUMBLEDORE LIKES POTATOES!Ó Lavender raised her eyebrows expectantly at the crowd, who looked at each other, nonplussed.  
  
ÒOh, come on, guys, I was joking! I mean, IÕm glad you worked to get better, but I was trying to lighten things up!Ó At this, several girls started snickering. Lavender looked annoyed, yet at the same time flustered. ÒEr....ok, then. The REAL cheer is: G-R-Y-F-F-I-N-D-O-R! WHATÕS THAT SPELL? GRYFFINDOR!Ó As she spoke, Lavender drew the letters in midair with her wand. ÒEverybody, just yell that.Ó  
  
ÒG-R-Y-F-F-I-N-D-O-R! WHATÕS THAT SPELL? GRYFFINDOR!Ó shouted the congregated girls. To be fair, it was better than one would expect from the group, had they seen them the night before. There was definitely room for improvement, though, and many of the girls would probably have been quite pleased if Lavender had left it at that. But she pressed on, and taught them the motions. They were supposed to make each letter with their arms as they said it, cup their hand to their ear when they asked what it spelled, and then jump up. Nobody had a problem with the last two parts, but the letters were an entirely different story --- especially with Betsy Statser.  
  
But what Betsy didn't know was that at that very moment, Lavender was forming a plan to help Betsy improve, a plan that would only work on a Gryffindor. 


	3. The Plan

Disclaimer: I only own two things in here: Betsy and the ideas. Oh, I also own Kiara. Anything and everything else is copyrighted by JKR; IÕm just borrowing them and take absolutely no credit for their creation.  
  
(A/N: This chapter starts out as sort of focusing on Ginny, and goes back to normal eventually.)  
  
Part III: The Plan  
  
Lavender and her clique had always been almost --- AFRAID --- of Ginny. Ever since she had come out of the Chamber in her first year, they seemed to think she was a freak, or had special powers or something. And riding back from a battle with Death Eaters at the Ministry on a Thestral hadnÕt helped their impression.  
  
Now, though....Ginny sighed. It was way different. Her dad had always tried to teach her what Muggle girls did for fun, as (according to Mr. Weasley, anyway) Muggle boys liked to do nothing. So, they had made a deal. If Ginny learned one form of Muggle entertainment, her dad would make the boys let her play Quidditch with them for a day. She was always lusting to play Chaser in a family match, so she had chosen the least boring activity --- cheer leading.  
  
And look where it had gotten her. On the Quidditch pitch (strange, huh?) for the third practice, with Lavender Brown whispering to her. Things had changed quicker than you could say, ÒHow ironic!Ó  
  
Soon, though, the cheer leading practice was back to normal, and that meant that Ginny was back to being the semi-nobody who could do the cheers perfectly. Only now, she was a semi-nobody with a plan. Admittedly, it wasnÕt her plan, but she was going to help with it.   
  
They went back to ÒG-R-Y-F-F-I-N-D-O-R! WHATÕS THAT SPELL? GRYFFINDOR!Ó, which they had abandoned the week before. Lavender, with the help of Daphne, helped the others sort out some of their problems with the letters, and assured them that it was okay if their F looked more like an O. This time, Lavender looked much less ready to pull her hair out when she came to Betsy, and Ginny knew perfectly well why.  
  
When they had worked on that cheer for a while, Lavender was ready to make an announcement.  
  
ÒWell, most of you probably know that GryffindorÕs first match of the season is this Saturday. What you DONÕT know is that itÕs also going to be OUR first performance.Ó Here, Lavender paused to wait for the babbling to die down (and for Sally-Anne Perks to regain consciousness). Thanks to a quick ÒEnnervate!Ó from Natalie McDonald, these both happened and she continued. ÒSo, weÕre going to do these two that weÕve learned, and another one, too. This one is a bit --- complicated, so we wonÕt do it all together. First off, we need to stand in a pyramid....Ó  
  
Sally-Anne wasnÕt the only one who looked faint this time. Nearly all the girls looked horrified, and those who didnÕt were too shocked to make their faces do much of anything.  
  
ÒA--- a --- p-pyramid?!Ó squeaked Betsy.  
  
ÒYes, a pyramid. And guess whoÕs going to be on top?Ó said Ginny, stepping forward.  
  
BetsyÕs eyes widened so that the people nearby were reminded very much of Luna Lovegood. She mouthed the word ÒmeÓ several times, but couldnÕt get any sounds to actually exit her mouth.  
  
***  
  
Fortunately, Betsy regained use of her vocal chords just in time for her first class, Charms, the next day. However, she lost her voice again just as fast as she walked down to the grassy area near the Quidditch pitch that evening. They couldnÕt use the pitch itself because HufflepuffÕs team was practicing --- that was who Gryffindor would play in three days.  
  
ÒOkay, I want Betsy to go over to GinnyÓ --- Ginny nodded at Lavender to show she remembered the words --- Òand everybody else over here.Ó  
  
Betsy wandered over and smiled nervously. Ginny tried to look reassuring, but thought she was probably failing miserably. Instead, she began, ÒRight, Betsy, you have a really important part in the cheer.Ó  
  
Betsy gulped.  
  
ÒYouÕre going to stand at the top, obviously. And since this is a call-and-response type of thing, youÕre the caller. Every time you say something, weÕre all going to yell, LIONS! LIONS! LIONS FOR THE CUP!Ó  
  
Betsy nodded in response.   
  
They spent the rest of that practice huddled while everybody else practiced yelling ÒLIONS! LIONS! LIONS FOR THE CUP!Ó By the time they left, all but Hermione had gone, it was dark, and Betsy sort of knew her part. It went like this (the ~ means the other girls are saying their part):  
  
WHOÕS THE BEST HOUSE TEAM AROUND? ~ THEIR TALENT IS JUST SO PROFOUND! ~ DOWN WITH BADGERS, UP WITH ~ HIT THAT BLUDGER, CATCH THAT BALL! ~ IF ONLY WOOD WERE HERE TO SEE THEM ALL! ~ DOWN WITH BADGERS, UP WITH ~ DOWN WITH BADGERS UP WITH (all) LIONS! LIONS! LIONS FOR THE CUP!  
  
A/N: Sorry about the long delay in updates, I have about a billion and two excuses but IÕm not going to tell you them now. Besides, I think I made up for it with a relatively long chapter. Anyway, please R R R &R: read, review, refer [a friend], and recycle! 


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